What's The Point Of A Motorcycle Dolly? 2 Reasons They're Useful
The biggest advantage of owning a motorcycle is its compact size compared to sedans, hatchbacks and SUVs. This smaller size not only benefits you in heavy traffic, where you can maneuver through tight spaces between vehicles, but also makes parking easier since motorcycles take up far less space than larger vehicles like cars and trucks. But what if you want to park your motorcycle at a particular angle in a place that has very limited space?
While you could use your physical strength to lift your bike off its side and guide it with your legs, this can be extremely challenging with a heavy motorcycle like the Harley-Davidson Tri Glide Ultra, which weighs over 1,200 pounds. In such a scenario, you can take the help of a motorcycle dolly, which is a device mainly made up of metal that has wheels, allowing you to easily move, store, and work on your motorcycle.
Easy to move in tight spaces
One major advantage of using a motorcycle dolly is how it simplifies maneuvering your motorcycle in confined areas. Without a dolly, you'd need to rely entirely on your strength to move your bike, which might be manageable with a lightweight model like the Honda Grom, but far more challenging with heavier motorcycles.
With a dolly like the $650 Condor motorcycle dolly, you simply need to place your bike on it and apply minimal effort to move it. The wheels present on the dolly will ensure that you don't have to exert extra strength and can easily move the vehicle from one place to another. Also, most dollies have a decent loading rating; for instance, the Condor motorcycle dolly has a loading rating of 1,300 pounds. So you really don't have to worry that the weight of your motorcycle will damage the dolly and affect its functioning.
Additionally, a dolly simplifies vehicle transportation. Loading or unloading a motorcycle from a trailer is not only a tedious job but also carries a high risk of your vehicle getting damaged during the process. But by putting your motorcycle on a dolly, you will be able to simplify the process. All you have to do is put your motorcycle on the dolly and apply its locks, which attach to the motorcycle tires. This will ensure that your motorcycle doesn't move because of tire rotation when you are trying to load or unload it onto a vehicle. Then, you can attach a ramp to the trailer and easily load or unload the motorcycle.
Perform repairs on your motorcycle
A motorcycle dolly can also be used to lift your vehicle from the ground so that you can perform different repairs on your vehicle. However, for this purpose, you will need to have a center stand dolly, not a regular bike dolly. You must have seen them in your motorcycle service centers.
In these service centers, you will mainly find the larger version of the center stand dolly, but if you want to get it for personal use, you can get a smaller version. There are plenty of center stand dollies to choose from. You can choose one from brands Let's Roll or Redline, or any other brand depending on your needs and the benefits they offer. You should generally look for things like the dolly material, its loading capacity, additional add-ons, pricing, and what other experts have to say about it.
That said, once you install the dolly and put your motorcycle on it, you can do things like changing the bike tire, servicing the brakes, and other maintenance work. Most center stand dollies also have wheels, so you can also use them to easily maneuver your bike in tight spaces.